Wow, these look superb, delicious and wonderful. May have to try this sometime!

I had an occasion calling for bacon themed food and my mind immediately turned towards the famed bacon mat. I needed something a little more single-serving though, so I decided to attempt bacon cups. In the bacon mat instructions there is mention of draping the mat over an overturned metal bowl and cooking it so that it would turn out in as a bowl shape. I decided to try using the backs of various muffin and mini cake pans, I ran out of bacon before I got to try as many as I would have liked so I’ll have to try more at a later date. Any excuse for more bacon.

In case you’d heard the rumors about the existence of an actual “bacon of the month” club, I’ve found it. It’s real, and, if anyone ever wanted to make Gabriel and Kristin happy for any reason, it would be a fun present. Only $150 for a year’s worth of bacon, too. Hint, hint. 🙂

Michael came over and made baked pancakes that were spectacular

So tasty, cooked in a bed of golden melted butter in a well-seasoned iron skillet. Each one is baked for 13 minutes, and rises up over the edges of the pan. We made savory and sweet. Sweet didn’t have any additions to the pancake batter. The savory had pancetta and manchego cheese added. So good.

Enjoying the meal

Tonight I made a dish that confirmed for me that sometimes mashed potatoes can be transcendent.Here is my recipe for “Mashed Potatoes of Heavenly Temptation”:

Gabriel’s Mashed Potatoes of Heavenly Temptation

6-8 medium sized potatoes

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 stick of unsalted butter

1/4 cup white onion, diced

1/4 cup yellow pepper, diced

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 Tbsp fresh ginger, minced

2 Tbsp French goat cheese

5 strips Niman Ranch bacon

Salt and Pepper to taste

First, peel the potatoes almost entirely, leaving just a little bit of skin for flavor. Chop into quarters, then boil rapidly until soft. Place potatoes into oven-safe heavy dutch oven. Add stick of butter and cream to potatoes and place in oven set to 250º F. Do not mash them yet.

Next, chop bacon into 1″ pieces and cook in skillet over medium heat until brown and crispy. Remove bacon from pan onto plate with paper towels.

Next, add onion and pepper to the bacon pan. Saute for 5 minutes, then add the garlic and ginger. Stir together and saute until onions are translucent (about 10 minutes).

Remove potatoes from oven. Add sauteed onion, pepper, garlic and ginger from the pan to potatoes. Mash together using a potato masher or forks until thoroughly mixed. Add 3/4 of the bacon pieces and the goat cheese to the mixture. Add sprinkling of salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste. Place back in oven until ready to serve.

To serve, place a portion of potatoes onto plate and top with remaining bacon pieces in an artistic manner.

Serves 4-6.

Note: You may be filled with a feeling of absolute contentment after eating these potatoes.

To accompany this, I also made a tasty tamarind-bar-b-que chicken sauce that also turned out rather lovely and a simple salad consisting of one boston lettuce leaf plus a tiny amount of steamed spinach.

A vegetarian stew made with potatoes, sweet potatoes, squash, onion, and other goodness topped with leftover honey baked ham pieces simmered in their own juices and vegetable stock. Veg + total not veg. Flavorsome 🙂

When we were children, my parents would make this delicacy. They called it “bee’s eyes,” due to the dark bubbly surface of the chocolate sauce. It is very tasty, and did, in fact, “enrapture children” with its magical hardening over ice cream trick.

HOT FUDGE SAUCE

About 1 Cup

The grand kind that, when cooked for the longer period and served hot, grows hard on ice cream and enraptures children.

Melt in a double boiler over–not in–hot water:

2 oz. unsweetened chocolate

Add and melt:

1 tablespoon butter

Stir and blend well, then add:

1/3 cup boiling water

Stir well and add:

1 cup sugar

2 tablespoons corn sirup

Permit the sauce to boil readily, but not too furiously, over direct heat. Do not stir. If you wish an ordinary sauce, boil it for 5 minutes. If you wish a hot sauce that will harden over ice cream, boil it for about 8 minutes. Add just before serving:

1 teaspoon vanilla or 2 teaspoons rum

When cold, this sauce is very thick. It may be reheated over boiling water.

Recipe is from The Joy of Cooking, 1964 Edition [page 711]

Posted in Chocolate, Dessert, Food, Recipes | Comments Off on Making Hot Fudge Sauce (aka "Bee's Eyes") at Mom's House on Christmas Eve

Create the base: In a large pot cook the Smart Bacon according to package instructions, until browned and crisp. Cool and chop into small pieces. Set aside.

Add ingredients and simmer: In the same pot over medium-high heat, add the extra-virgin olive oil, onions, shallots, and garlic. Saute for 5 minutes, or until the onions start to get soft.

Add the diced potatoes and teaspoon of salt and saute for about two minutes. Now add the mustard and milk. Bring to a boil, then simmer for about 25 minutes, or until the soup thickens and the potatoes are soft throughout.

Whisk and season: Whisk in the Gruyere cheese, another teaspoon of salt, and a couple pinches of pepper. Garnish with the bacon, fresh chives, and/or chive flowers.

I made mine without the shallots or Gruyere cheese since I didn’t have any on hand, and in using up some potatoes ended up with closer to 6 cups of potatoes. So I increased the milk by another cup and a half. Also I only used 6 strips of bacon to start.